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Misadventure part XXII

Starting the hike with absolutely no idea about any real details except hearsay, I set off to climb Volcan Galeras, our local 14,000+ foot volcano with a few friends. Start early, be back for a late lunch and nap. No problem. Wrong.

12 hours.

12 hours of hiking. As if that weren’t bad enough, I also felt guilt for telling my friends it was going to be a quick and easy hike. We know now, that that is untrue. Oh yes, it was beautiful.

Ahhhhh the Andes
But the path was unending. Switchbacks from side to side longer than the entire town of Pasto, we zig-zagged our way up this laborious trail.

The city of Pasto, which we would have walked 10 times over
In fact we walked to the world’s end. Off into the clouds.

The top was cold and bitter. So cloudy we couldn’t see a thing. Apparently there is an impressive crater on the other side, half of the volcano was blown off (luckily away from Pasto), but we wouldn’t know about that. Clouds and cold, that’s all I know about Galeras.

So thrilled with our “6” hour hike

The descent was easy. A collapse to a tumble, no walking necessary. Once back to civilization, we boarded a bus. A novel idea – wheels, an engine, a cheap ride to some much needed calories. The bus promptly broke down after our boarding -_-